The present invention relates to landscaping and ground surface maintenance, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for the conditioning of a freshly mowed lawn surface such as a golf course fairway and other similarly groomed turf.
In the sport of golf, the fairway comprises that portion of a golf hole located between the xe2x80x9cteexe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9cgreenxe2x80x9d, and excludes the rough, and any trees or hazards. The fairway is to be distinguished from the xe2x80x9croughxe2x80x9d and other hazard areas in that it is a carefully manicured lawn section which, in theory, provides a golfer the best possible surface from which to play a shot to the green. The ideal fairway surface comprises a firm ground surface to support the golfer in his or her stance and a smooth, uninterrupted grass surface to support the ball up off the ground surface. It is desirable that the fairway, even though having various contours, provide a consistent grass surface.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case for several reasons. A properly maintained fairway must be mowed frequently. The grass surface of a fairway is cut to a relatively short, uniform length, and conventional operation of a tractor mower results in grass cuttings being distributed behind the path of such tractor mower. Moreover, dew or other surface moisture often causes newly mown grass to collect in clumps. Thus, the turf must be manicured after mowing to provide more even distribution of grass trimmings across the fairway. Even distribution of fairway grass trimmings has been accomplished by dragging a net across the fairway.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,338 (Koval) discloses a turf conditioning apparatus that includes a drag net suspended by a support bar that is attached to the rear of a commercial tractor-mower. With this apparatus, the mower operator must stop the tractor-mower, dismount, and remove the drag net from behind the tractor-mower prior to driving across rough areas due to the fact that the net will tend to snag on twigs and other debris found in the rough. The tractor-mower operator must also remove the drag net from behind the tractor-mower prior to reversing the direction of movement of the tractor-mower. Thus, the use of a drag net on the tractor-mower slows down the, often critical, mowing operation.
To overcome the problems encountered with a drag net assembly mounted on the tractor-mower, fairway mowing and dragging are often performed as separate operations, with one person mowing the grass, followed by another person dragging the fairway by driving a utility golf cart equipped with a rear mounted drag net apparatus. Such a golf cart mountable drag net apparatus is available from Precision Small Engine Co., USA on the internet at http://www.precisionusa.com. The labor cost of a two-man operation is naturally more expensive than a one-man operation.
The above-described problems are similarly present in turf manicuring drag systems incorporating heavier drag tools. Heavier drag tools are used for ground leveling, seeding, and fertilizing and include semi-flexible mats and screens.
The present invention solves the above-described problems in the prior art by providing a turf manicuring drag apparatus that is designed to be used with a tractor and provides a means for raising a drag tool above the turf while the tractor operator remains in his seated position on the tractor. Thus, the present apparatus can be efficiently used in a one-man mowing and turf manicuring operation.
The turf manicuring drag apparatus of the present invention is for use with a tractor and comprises
(a) a frame including a rod, at least one lift member extending transversely from said rod to a lift end, and a means for suspending a drag tool from said rod, said rod having a left rod section and a right rod section connected to a center rod section longitudinally centered about an axis;
(b) at least one support member connectable to the tractor and extending away from the tractor to form a receptacle adapted to receive said rod and allow rotation of said rod about said axis, said support member adapted to support said frame in an elevated position rearward of the tractor so that said rod is disposed transverse to the direction of movement in a plane substantially parallel with the turf beneath the tractor with said lift end being rearwardly disposed at an elevation below said rod;
(c) a means for rotating said frame about said axis, thus raising and lowering said lift member; and
(d) an actuator controllably connected to said means for rotating.
Another aspect of the present invention is a turf manicuring drag apparatus having left and right rod sections that are pivotably connected to the center rod section so that the end rod sections can be folded toward the center rod section to allow the tractor to be driven through a narrow passage while the turf manicuring drag apparatus is mounted thereon, without encountering lateral obstruction of the rod.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved turf manicuring drag apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a turf manicuring drag apparatus having an improved means for preventing the apparatus and drag tool from deleteriously contacting interfering objects encountered when the tractor is in motion.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a turf manicuring drag apparatus having a means for raising the drag tool above the turf without requiring the tractor operator to stop the tractor or dismount from his seated position.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a turf manicuring drag net apparatus for use on a tractor-mower simultaneous with a mowing operation in both a forward and reverse direction of movement.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from reading the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.